Importance of choosing the right office furniture

Choosing the right office furniture is paramount in developing your workplace. Some argue that if you were to make one change to your office in order to improve employee productivity then your office furniture should be it.

People can get very precious about their office desk and office chair, it is more than office furniture to them, it is their space, their territory. That is why when choosing office furniture these factors need to be taken into consideration, take a look at individual employee needs, what their role involves and how they go about fulfilling that role.

Office furniture often needs to be easily reconfigurable and flexible to suit changes within the company, may it be departmental changes, expansion or changes in technology and equipment required to complete particular tasks.

The traditional rectangular office desk has been around for decades but has never ideally suited the job it was designed for. With the introduction of flat screen monitors, tablets and mobile devices office furniture design is really evolving. We still use rectangular office desks but they have many more options available, various sizes, cable management, and storage, monitor arms, tool bars and so on. The opportunity to reduce property costs and increase productivity has never been greater.

Rather than assuming you know how your employees like to work it is always better to actually ask them. Studies show that the average office is only occupied for 50% of the time, this could mean that you are better off using a ‘hot desk’ solution as many companies do, and they find it highly successful. Desk sharing reduces the desk positions required and therefore reduces overall costs. A lot of businesses also look at different ways of working with the introduction of breakout areas and boothed working areas for example.

The worker profile is changing rapidly, we now have a much broader workforce. Younger workers tend to prefer a more informal office environment where older workers tend to favour the more traditional office set-up. Office furniture manufacturers take this into consideration and offer an extensive range of products to facilitate new ways of working.